Carleton University’s Nduka Otiono, assistant professor of African Studies, has been awarded a prestigious fellowship by the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program. As part of the fellowship, Otiono will travel to Nigeria to work with Delta State University to co-develop graduate student teaching, training and mentoring on interdisciplinary research methods and project writing.
Otiono will collaborate with G.G. Darah, professor of English and president of the Nigeria Oral Literature Organization (NOLA), to launch a working group for researching the oral literature, folklore and folklife of Delta State and beyond. He will also develop short professional seminars on interdisciplinary research methods for graduate students and early career faculty, and initiate a new interdisciplinary graduate course, Globalization and Popular Culture in Africa.
“The project triangulates around a vision and mission that will advance the commitment of the sponsor Carnegie Corporation of New York to turning Africa’s brain drain to brain gain, while mutually benefitting students and faculty members at Carleton University— my home university— and Delta State University—the host university in my country of origin, Nigeria,” said Otiono.
Otiono, who also received a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2012, hopes that the Carnegie fellowship will foster new ideas and networks for his work, as well as enable the inauguration of international exchange between Carleton University and Delta State University.
The Carnegie African Diaspora Scholar Fellowship will pair African diaspora scholars with higher education institutions in Africa to collaborate on curriculum co-development, research, graduate teaching, training and mentoring activities. Otiono is one of 17 scholars who have been awarded fellowships to travel to Africa beginning in spring 2015 to conduct a wide range of projects, including developing an MBA program, staging a musical based on South African themes and Africa-sensitive research in cognitive psychology.
The Fellows and Host Institutions are listed on the program website, along with highlights of projects and comments from the first round of Fellows and Hosts.
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